There is some linkage. Economic achievement for example will be affected by success in avoiding war.

What about population growth? Important, yes, but it is likely to be regulated automatically by advances in prosperity. That in turn will be influenced by better governance, as is already happening in Africa.

Migration may not seem a top priority. However statistics indicate Africa’s population will probably rise to four billion. How will they interact with the richer but much smaller and declining population of Europe? If just one per cent decide to move to Europe, that’s forty million. If ten per cent come, that’s more than Europe’s whole present population. What are the implications?

I don’t have all the answers, but it’s a nice short list to work on. All the rest is media chatter, including the question whether Arsenal will win the English soccer Premiership, which I must confess does sometimes clutter my mind.

I trust some of the rest of you are working on the same list. If so, we can doubtless look forward to a better 2014. Good luck and Happy New Year.

I bumped into a former British District Officer who once “ran” northern Nigeria, where hundreds of people have just been killed by Islamic fundamentalists.

“When I was there, there was one British policeman and 150 federal Nigerian police for the whole area, and there was no trouble. They’re pious Moslems, but they liked having a good time and enjoyed life. People got on well together.”

What went wrong? “Corruption. It’s sucking resources out of the north to places like Lagos in the south. Also, the population has trebled. So … masses of young people, with little chance of making much of their lives.”

A mild-mannered elderly man (Nigeria became independent in 1960), he is distressed at the violence. He still reads and listens to the news in the Hausa language – “unfortunately they speak rather fast and the words have changed since I was there.”

He doubts where the riot police and armoured cars sent by the Federal Government will do much good. “In my day, we ruled with a light touch. We had to. We had no means of doing otherwise.”